Hypnero (erotic dream)

Hypnero (Erotic Dream), is a variation on a series of large-scale installations that Laura Santamaria has completed in different sites across Europe. Instead of using ink, graphite, charcoal, or oilstick for her drawings, the artists employs a source of open fire as her drawing tool. A candle or a torch get fastened to a long handle, allowing the artist to reach the ceiling, edges and corners of her ‘canvases’ – large scale walls in architectural environments such as churches or spaces of pubic and civic use. The flame touches the surface, following the movement of the artist. It doesn’t burn the wall, but as the movement and proximity to the surface affects the efficacy of the combustion, the torch begins to stain the wall: blacksmoke – soot – starts to de- posit on the surface. Depending on the distance to the wall and the availability of oxygen, the deposit appears as faint or dark, as dusty or oily; it seems to be powered or tarred. While the process can be guided by the artist, much of the final outcome is left to the fortuity of the flame. The drawings become indexical marks: signs of a past process that is out of the hands of its maker. Such index- icality and its emphasis on making the past visible is one of the main aspects of Santamaria’s drawing. It presents marks and stains of the past, the remnants of events that are often hard to control and even harder to erase.” Daniel F. Herrmann Eisler Curator & Head of Curatorial Studies. Catalog published on the occasion of the exhibition: London Open 2015
 Published by Whitechapel Ed. London (UK).